How Can I Identify Good-Quality Saffron?

Q: I recently took a trip to India and brought tons of spices back home. I stumbled across something that I thought was saffron, but when I got home, it did not smell like real saffron. How do I tell the difference between real and synthetic saffron? Could there be geographical variations?

Sent by Isabella

Editor: My guess is that it's saffron, but perhaps a bit old and past its aromatic prime. If this is the case, it will still be great for coloring your dishes, but won't give it quite the same saffron flavor punch.